The Original Carrot Colour! -
Cultivated carrots originated in the Afghanistan region and were yellow and
purple. From this center of domestication carrots were grown as a root crop to
the East and West of this region with the incorporation of several characteristics contrasting
those two geographic regions. The Eastern carrot spread to central and north
Asia and then to Japan. Red coloured carrot is typical for India and also was
introduced to Japan. In contrast, Western carrot type is characterized initially
by yellow and later by orange root colour. This carrot type spread to the West and
now dominates in Europe and America. Carrot is rich in pro-healthy antioxidants
both of lipophylic (carotenoids) and hydrophilic (phenolic compounds)
characters. Although carotenoid content varies considerably among carrot
genotypes, usually orange carrots contain high amounts of α- and β- carotene;
yellow carrots contain lutein, the red colour of carrots is due to lycopene,
while polyphenol substances, mostly anthocyanins are typical for purple roots.
Carrots of Asian origin belonging to Eastern gene pool are more often purple or
red and richer in phenolics and have higher antiradical activity than those from
the Western gene pool which now have mainly orange roots.

Purple carrots (usually orange
or white inside) have even more beta carotene than their orange cousins, and get
their pigment from anthocyanins, these pigments act as powerful antioxidants
that protect key cell components, grabbing and holding on to harmful free
radicals in the body. Anthocyanins also help prevent heart disease by slowing
blood clotting and are good anti inflammatory agents. These originate from
Turkey, and the Middle and Far East.

The cultivated carrot is believed to originate from
Afghanistan before the 900s, as this area is described as the primary centre of
greatest carrot diversity (Mackevic 1929), Turkey being proposed as a secondary
centre of origin (Banga 1963). The first cultivated carrots exhibited purple or
yellow roots. Carrot cultivation spread to Spain in the 1100s via the Middle
East and North Africa. In Europe, genetic improvement led to a wide variety of
cultivars. White and orange-coloured carrots were first described in Western
Europe in the early 1600s (Banga 1963). Concomitantly, the Asiatic carrot was
developed from the Afghan type and a red type appeared in China and India around
the 1700s (Laufer 1919; Shinohara 1984). According to this history, it makes
sense to envisage that colour should be considered as a structural factor in
carrot germplasm.

Purple (or almost black) carrots grow mostly in southern Europe and Asia. Their
characteristic purple or black colour comes from pigments called anthocyanins.
These pigments exhibit a reversible change in molecular structure as the pH of
solutions change from acidic to basic. This change in structure is characterized
by a shift in hue from red to purple to blue as the pH changes from acidic to
basic.

Many
of the pigments in carrots serve to shield plant cells during photosynthesis.
Purple carrots possess an entirely different class of pigments from the other
carrot colours - anthocyanins - which act as powerful antioxidants. Red carrots
derive their colour mainly from lycopene, a type of carotene believed to guard
against heart disease and some cancers. Yellow carrots accumulate xanthophylls,
pigments similar to beta-carotene that support good eye health.

Carrots became widely cultivated in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries
and were first brought over to North America during this same general time
period.
The noble carrot has long been known as an orange vegetable. Generations
of people in the West have grown up believing that carrots have always been orange.
But long before the Orange carrot became established in the 16th century the
purple (or maroon) carrot existed across in Asia and the eastern
Mediterranean. (carrot history
here)(black carrot page here)(other carrot colours here)

Wild carrot has a small, tough pale fleshed bitter white root; modern domestic
carrot has a swollen, juice sweet root, usually orange.
By the 10th century purple carrots were grown in Afghanistan
and northern Iran which are considered the centres of origin. Purple, white and
yellow carrots were imported to southern Europe in the 14th century. Black, red
and white carrots were also grown. Purple carrots were used as a clothing dye
for Afghan royalty. Much later, in the 16th century some motivated
Dutch growers developed orange rooted carrots
and made them sweeter and more practical.

Purple carrots are even higher in antioxidants
than orange carrots, and they also possess anti-inflammatory properties. This
could make them very useful in the treatment of arthritis. They have been found
to be antiviral, antiseptic and antimicrobial, and they also contain
anticarcinogens and betacarotenes. They also contain phytochemicals including
carotenoids, polyacetylenes, isocoumarins, phenolics and sesquiterpenes.
Phytochemicals have antioxidant, anti-bacterial, and other disease preventative
and health enhancing properties.

Anticarcinogens help to reduce the risk of cancer and also help to fight
against any already-present cancer cells in our bodies. Purple carrots are also
excellent at fighting against viral as well as bacterial infections, such as
flu, measles and internal infections of the urinary tract, mouth and stomach.

Purple carrots contain high doses of Vitamin A, which helps to prevent
clogging of the arteries and thus helps to prevent strokes. Along with that,
they also contain vitamin B, C and E as well as calcium pectate, which is a very
good source of fibre, and they help to lower cholesterol levels. They are also
very useful in the prevention of macular degeneration.

Studies into
the health qualities of purple carrots have shown that they give us extra protection
against various forms of cancer and heart disease. They contain purple pigments
called anthocyanins, and act as anti-oxidants that protect the body.

There are up to 28 times more anthocyanins - the antioxidant
that creates the purple-red pigment in blueberries and raspberries - in purple
carrots than there are in orange ones.

The Bartlett twins have grown the world's first bushy top purple carrots in a
bid to make more Brits give the 'traditional' vegetable a go. Twin brothers Toby
and Oliver Bartlett have developed the world’s first bushy top purple carrots at
their family farm in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire.

The purple carrots, which retain an orange centre, have now gone on sale in
Tesco stores across the country to coincide with the forthcoming British Food
Fortnight in early October. It has taken almost three years to develop the
purple bushy top carrot variety; it is the first time the bushytop has been
given this colour change.

The 23-year-old farmers are the fourth generation of the Bartlett family to
work on the farm, which also grows parsnips for Tesco. “We’re passionate about
carrots and parsnips, and we want to get people as excited as us by introducing
interesting variations,” says Oliver.

Next year, the twins are hoping to increase production of their new
eye-catching carrot variety tenfold. “The purple in the carrots has
anti-inflammatory properties and anti-oxidants,” adds Oliver. “We hope these
extra health benefits will encourage people to try something new.”

The purple bushy top variety will be sold exclusively through Tesco for a
year, but the twins have already received interest from trade customers. “We’ve
recently introduced a shop on our website for the restaurant trade so that’ll be
the next point,” says Toby.

A few hundred years ago, all cultivated carrots were purple. The orange
carrot was developed by Dutch growers in the late 16th century, using yellow
strains. The brothers began working on the family farm five years ago and have
introduced a number of innovations.

“We’ve created a custom designed bunched carrot rig,” says Toby. “It’s a
machine that we developed a few years ago to harvest, wash, grade and pack all
out bushy tops and purple carrots right in the field. “The carrots are packed in
less than 60 seconds. They must be some of the freshest carrots you can buy.”

Last year, the business also spent £1m building one of the UK’s largest solar
panel installations, which will provide up to 25pc of its annual energy
consumption. Turnover at the 1,456-acre carrot and parsnip farm currently stands
at £40m. “The carrots will only generate a small amount of sales growth this
year, but hopefully it’ll create more interest in the category,” says Toby,
adding that colourful parsnips are likely to be next on their hit list.

“They’ve always been seen as a traditional old-fashioned vegetable. We need
to encourage more people to eat them.”

And ten years before, in 2002 -
The carrot returned to go on sale
in the summer of 2002
in England in its original colour - purple - the first time in five centuries.
There was also talk of bringing back black and white varieties together with
a rainbow version!

Supermarket buyers were not too keen to try out purple carrots
and sadly sales plummeted.. After
pink tomatoes and green tomato ketchup they believed British consumers
were keen to experiment. The experiment failed as British consumers
preferred "proper" carrots!
Carrots are the second most popular vegetable after the potato. This first
commercial crop was grown near Ely, Cambridgeshire, and dark purple
carrots with orange insides were sold at Sainsbury's stores in July.

They
attempted to brighten up the nation's dinner plates served as a violet purée,
with its classic partner, the green
pea, or in a salad. Mark Spurdens, technical
manager for Isleham Fresh Produce, said : "Yes they are different and have
had a little extra care and attention in the way they have been raised.

We
have had tastings and besides being healthy we think they are sweeter. They also
look stunning sliced raw. We
are already planning to sell rainbow bunches of carrots next year."

Russell Crowe, root buyer at Sainsbury's said :" We are very excited to have
dug up old ground and sell the purple carrot exclusively. Hopefully this
unusual colour will influence children to eat more vegetables while parents
can rest assured that there is nothing artificial about the carrots."

Sadly the great British public did not take to them and sales were quickly
withdrawn. A little odd when in the USA, Rainbow Packs of carrots sell
well.

Thompson & Morgan have a tremendous variety of carrot seeds
for you to try, some links below give more detail, or click on the banner.
Popular varieites include Indigo, Maroon, Purple Dragon, Cosmic Purple & Purple
Haze

Purple carrots are being explored as a source of such dyes is the purple carrot,
ancient ancestor to the modern, orange version. Originally used as a clothing
dye by Afghan royalty, the purple carrot is now regularly used as a reliable source of
food colourings.

Purple carrots are now propositioned as the next
superfood.

The findings of the recent Australian study revealed the
ancient carrot to be packed with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory goodness -
up tp 28 times more anthocyanins, which are antioxidants that are responsible
for the purple-red pigment in raspberries and blueberries, than there are in
orange carrots.

Lindsay Brown, professor of Biomedical Sciences at the
University of Southern Queensland who is also the study author said the purple
carrots are the original carrots from the ancient Persia. Purple carrots are one
of the wide variety of fruit and vegetables that are almost lost in the era of
single supermarket varieties, just like other ancient tomato varieties.

While claims have previously been made about its health
benefits, there were no tests to back up them, not until just recently.
Conducting rat studies using purple carrots grown in Queensland, the rats were
given high-fat, high-carbohydrate diet for 16 weeks to mirror the effects of
unhealthy Western diet.

The rats soon developed high blood pressure, became fatter
and glucose-intolerant - or prediabetic - and suffered heart and liver damage.
Subsequently, in the second eight weeks, purple carrot juice were added into the
rats' diet.

The results were a surprise to the scientists, and will be
published in the British Journal of Nutrition. Prof Brown said miraculously
everything went back to normal. "The blood pressure went down, the collagen in
the heart was back to normal, the liver histology was back to normal, the liver
enzymes, the glucose tolerance, the fat pads were all back to normal, despite
continuing this ... terrible diet," she explained. Purple carrots should be eaten coupled with a moderate diet
and exercise, advised Prof Brown.

Toast the pine nuts in a
toaster or a small pan for a minute or two until the aroma is enhanced. Preheat
the oven to 350ºF.

Use the tablespoon of butter
to coat the inside of a 9X9 cake pan, then dust with flour. Take the shredded
carrots and put in a microwave safe bowl. Add a tablespoon of water, cover and
microwave for 1 minute to steam them and extract some of the colour. Let cool.

Use an electric mixer with a
whisk attachment to mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda,
cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and a dash of salt. In another, and bigger, mixing
bowl, use the electric mixer whisk to mix the sugar and eggs for 20 seconds.
Next, while still running the electric mixer at a reasonably high speed, drizzle
in the vegetable oil, very slowly at first. You are creating an emulsion so take
your time to make sure the oil combines with the egg and sugar mixture before
you speed up adding more oil.

Once the oil is incorporated,
add the flour, carrots, raisins and pine nuts to the bowl. Using a rubber
spatula, stir everything by hand until combined. Pour the cake batter into the
cake pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick in the centre comes out
clean.

Put the cake pan on a wire rack and cool for a couple of
hours before starting on the icing. Make the icing by using an electric mixer to
whip the butter, mascarpone and powdered sugar together until it lightens up and
starts looking like icing, probably after about 1 minute. Put the icing on the
cooled cake.

And in the States ....

Some people look at it and say that's one ugly carrot," says Leonard Pike,Ph.D.
"But then other people think it's the most beautiful thing they've ever seen."
Pike is referring to his latest creation: Maroon in colour, apple-like in
texture and sugary in flavour, it's known as the Beta-Sweet carrot. For
traditionalists who like their carrots to look and taste like, well carrots,
the Beta Sweet can be a little off-putting. That's the way it goes with in
the field of vegetable enhancement-a field that Pike pioneered back in 1992
as director and founder of the Vegetable Improvement Centre at Texas A&M
University at College Station.

Dr Pikes goal is to change attitudes, improve health and impact the world,
one vegetable at a time. "To eat a wide range of vegetables is far more
beneficial than eating hamburgers and French fries and relying on supplements"
says Pike. He also points to the benefits his work can offer underdeveloped
countries. "The people living in those countries are not going to take
supplements, but they are going to grow and eat crops."

The gene responsible for purple or maroon colour is a natural one that has
been around for many
years and, in fact, has been segregated out and discarded when it appeared
in order to retain the traditional orange colour for carrots. In 1989, three
carrots grown from Brazilian seed were observed to have a blotchy maroon
colour mixed with the normal range, which gave Dr Pike an idea. Initially,
he planned to develop a maroon carrot for home gardeners, similar to the
long lost wild carrot from Afghanistan.
He produced a maroon and deep orange Beta Sweet carrot, which matched the
school's colours. Pike may have conceived this variety on a fanciful whim,
but he soon learned that the purple pigment contained anthocyanins, which
act as tough antioxidants, boosting the carrot's nutritional properties.
The irony here is that Pike has actually put back what growers, in the name
of aesthetics, took out years ago. Naturally, carrots are either white or
white with a purple rim, but the old breeders selected the orange carrot
for its unconventional colouring! Read more about
antioxidants here.

Within two generations of breeding effort, he obtained a few a carrot roots
with near complete maroon exterior and orange interior. The contrast of orange
and maroon was very attractive in carrots cut into coins or sticks. The research
objective changed instantly from developing a novelty carrot into a 'designer'
carrot variety with all the flavour, nutrition and health requirements possible.

Cancer-preventing traits

Dr Pike engineered the BetaSweet to have 50 percent more beta-carotene (
a potent cancer-fighting antioxidant) than your garden-variety carrot. And
its curious colour comes from anthocyanin, another antioxidant that preliminary
studies show effectively fights disease-causing bacteria in humans.

Early man used food to prevent disease. For a long time, the medical profession
has treated disease with drugs and surgery. Now, we are seeing a return to
prevention and an emphasis on disease-preventing vegetables. The purple carrot
is a potent antioxidant, right along with blackberries, blueberries and
cherries.

Several additional generations of carrots were required in the development
of BetaSweet using extensive laboratory testing for low terpenoids (strong
carrot flavours), high sugars, high carotene, and crispy texture. Thousands
of carrot roots were analysed and selected for desired qualities and for
the dark maroon exterior and orange interiors. The few best for those
characteristics were crossed and re-selected for their adaptation when grown
under Texas climate conditions.

Eventually, four advanced breeding lines
were tested as potential commercial varieties. The name "BetaSweet" was selected
from a "name the new maroon carrot contest" sponsored by Progressive Farmer
magazine in 1995. The winning entry was sent in by John Dunckelman of Florida.
Beta, for the high levels of beta carotene which are found in the carrot
and Sweet because of its sweet taste. the variety was released in 1998.BetaSweet'
taste similar to other carrots but has a very crispy texture which is easier
to chew, much like an apple or piece of celery. It is also sweet and very
attractive when cut into 'coins' or sticks. It only has a texture similar
to an apple, but not the taste.

Consumer-oriented strategy

BetaSweet carrots have been introduced to consumers in the US in the form
of coins and sticks in a specialty-designed package bearing carrot cartoon
characters to attract children.
The family he started with is called the "Beta Bunch". We have "Beta Bites,"
a Beta Sweet teenage carrot girl and parents, "BetaKing" and "BetaQueen".
They are also working on "MegaBeta," a little boy carrot with muscles," Pike
reported.

And how do they cook? Sliced and roasted for a salad, the colours darkened
but remained true to their hue. Of course, all of this beauty comes with
a steep price tag: The Beta Sweet variety is about twice the cost of bulk
carrots.

Maroon carrots can be used in any carrot recipe, but if left raw, either
shredded into a coleslaw or dipped into a garlic mayonnaise, the colours,
flavour and texture really shine.
You will find maroon carrots sweeter and a touch crisper than their orange
cousins.

Thompson & Morgan have a tremendous variety of carrot seeds
for you to try, some links below give more detail, or click on the banner.

Purple Carrots Being Produced in Tasmania

(news release Feb 2011)

A new Deep Purple carrot variety grown for national retail markets by Coastal
carrot barons the Ertler brothers, of the family- owned business Premium Fresh
Tasmania, is aimed at health-conscious consumers already asking retailers for
purple carrots, which have been tough to source. The Forth vegetable growing and
packing success story started by the Ertlers 11 years ago is now one of
Australia's major carrot producers, supplying 10% of the domestic market.

The three Ertler brothers - Mike, Jim and Rick - say they are about four
weeks away from when they will "revolutionise supermarket shelves" with their
new Deep Purple carrot. It's the first time purple carrots will be readily
available for retail sale across the country, the Ertlers say.

In the heart of the North- West's prime agricultural region, the Ertlers
trialled a few different varieties of purple carrots over a number of years
before getting to this point.

Mike Ertler describes their purple carrot as having "a very carroty flavour".

According to plant scientist Dr Hazel MacTavish-West, research suggests
eating a purple carrot a day has the potential to protect against cardiovascular
disease, inhibit cancer cells and reverse negative effects of a high-fat diet,
among other benefits. It comes after a number of research projects indicated
this, including last year's University of Southern Queensland study into the
ancient carrot variety that found purple carrots were high in anti-inflammatory
properties and antioxidants.

Results of the pre-clinical trial on rats when fed a high-fat diet got fat,
developed high blood pressure, became glucose intolerant and had liver and heart
damage but after being fed purple carrot juice for several weeks everything was
back to normal.

Purple carrots contained up to five times more phenolics and falcarinol than
orange carrots and both compounds are being investigated for their potential to
protect against cardiovascular disease, inhibit the development of cancer cells
in the body and reverse the negative effects of high-fat diets.

Purple carrots are best eaten raw to get the maximum benefit but can still be
steamed, boiled, roasted and juiced.

A study reported in the British Journal of Nutrition stated - The present
study demonstrates for the first time that treatment of the metabolic syndrome
induced by diet in rats with purple carrot juice attenuates or reverses the
changes in cardiovascular and liver structure and functions as well as in
metabolic parameters, especially abdominal fat deposition and plasma lipid
profiles. As the juice itself contained low concentrations of carotenoids, it is
likely that the anthocyanins are responsible for the antioxidant and
anti-inflammatory properties of purple carrot juice. Furthermore, b-carotene
alone produces limited and sometimes contradictory responses compared with
purple carrot juice in this rat model of the metabolic syndrome.